- Do you have a right to online knowledge? Report shows open internet in danger

Do you have a right to online knowledge? Report shows open internet in danger

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Par APC pour APC/Hivos

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 16 November 2009

A new report that reveals how vulnerable the internet as we know it is, has just been published by two global civil society organisations.

The annual report, called Global Information Society Watch 2009), was released today by the Association for Progressive Communications and Dutch-funder Hivos. GISWatch 2009 is entitled Access to online information and knowledge – advancing human rights and democracy.

It shows that accessing information and knowledge online is not as simple as switching on a computer, and that the wealth of information available on the internet today is by no means guaranteed for tomorrow. Whether it is a new legislation designed to control online content, the blocking of websites, or restrictive copyright laws that prevent poor nations and people with disabilities from accessing information, what was once a free and open space for sharing knowledge, is in many ways being shut down. As one author puts it, the information society involves a “continuing tug-of-war between the forces of authoritarianism and democratisation.”

Key issues at stake

Key issues impacting on access to online information and knowledge are unpacked in the report, including discussions on intellectual property rights, knowledge rights, open standards and access to educational materials and libraries.

The report also offers an institutional overview and a reflection on indicators that track access to information and knowledge. 48 country reports – ten more than last year’s report – analyse the status of access to online information and knowledge in countries as diverse as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Mexico, Switzerland and Kazakhstan, while regional overviews offer a bird’s eye perspective on regional trends in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Europe.

For the first time, this year there is an innovative section that visually maps global rights as seen through the lens of Google searches, as well as a visual analysis of Twitter messages sent out during the recent Iranian political crisis. The two research projects presented are attempts at web studies where the tool used is part of the analysis, with some fascinating results.

For instance, as seen through Google search results, it can be argued that countries have very distinctive concerns when it comes to rights. These range from “cultural rights” in Mexico, “pollution victims’ rights” in Switzerland, the “right to education in a native sign language” in Finland, to “rights of the over-indebted” in Ivory Coast.

No place for complacency: The open internet is closing

“The value of a publication like this – to cast shadows, illuminate differences, pockets of challenges and changes – is once again highlighted in the reports collected here,” said GISWatch editor Alan Finlay begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting. “Not everyone benefits from an open information society. For those that do, this is becoming more and more relative. In a number of cases, the authors showed a lot of courage in writing what they did, given the repressive environments they work in.”

Ironically, the terrain of access to online information has knowledge barriers in itself: there are pockets of specialisation beyond the everyday discussions of most people. This means that fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, the right to participate and the freedom to learn and to know are seldom covered by the mainstream media.

GISWatch 2009 aims to demystify the terrain, while challenging the complacency of those who assume that their right to access, use and enjoy the content they find on the internet will always be secured.

Global Information Society Watch 2009, published in print and online by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Dutch development organisation Hivos, collects the perspectives of ICT academics, analysts, activists and civil society organisations from across the globe.

The report will be launched at the Internet Goverance Forum in Egypt on Monday November 16.

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Responding to GISWatch 2009, several prominent commentators had this to say:
“GISWatch has taken up the difficult and incredibly important task of understanding the converging issues of freedom of expression, access to knowledge and information and digital rights in a global, comparative context. Many of these issues have come to the fore in policy conversations in the past decade, but researchers, advocates and policy-makers have lacked a framework for mapping and comparing them globally. Now they have one.” – Joe Karaganis, Social Science Research Council

“I particularly liked the measuring section. The knowledge economy needs indices that are both qualitative and quantitative. Keeping human rights and human development central in the indicators gives ‘soul’ to the measurement. This in my view is one of the most balanced access to information publications in the post-WSIS period.” – Dr Buhle Mbambo-Thata, Executive Director, University of South Africa (UNISA) Library Services